


Who will notice me?

by Sailor_Toni



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Comfort, Gen, Lore - Freeform, a lot of talking in this fic, phicc phight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23626246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sailor_Toni/pseuds/Sailor_Toni
Summary: Danielle is feeling upset at how the world has been treating her. One day while visiting Clockwork she vents out these frustrations.Phicc Phight submission for PhantomKick
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Who will notice me?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PhantomKick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomKick/gifts).



“Are there any others like me?”

“Vlad, Danny, the other Danny.”

“No, like someone who was born a halfa… like me.”

Clockwork had no response. Nothing verbal, nothing physical. He stared up at one of portals, watching humans walk past, a pair of siblings rush past, giggling and laughing. Spring sank through the portal edges giving the scene the small of nostalgia. 

“A question for a question? Why would such a topic interest you?”

“Hun?” As if she was his opposite, Dani gave a large reaction. Her body moving in time with her shocked expression. “Oh, well its uh never mind. Sorry to bother you.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“I don’t know,” She replied.

“Don’t apologize. If you do not know the reason then don’t deliver an empty gesture.” Clockwork was stern, not harsh but a command that left no room for argument. Dani watched as his reflection grew in age, wrinkles casting them around his face like echoes of lost time.

“I’m sorry,’ she muttered.

Regret, it lined the walls of Clockwork’s tower. Every pillar, every broken title, every clock that gave its infuriating marching order, even the threads of his own tunic was imbued with it. It was even burning her face as she said it. Why did she even come here? A straight answer from Clockwork was like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. He must do something good for Danny to be here constantly.

“You never answered my question little one.” Clock work was looking at her now. A sorrowful sea of red, like a sailor trapped under a blood moon. “Why does this topic interest you?”

“I’m just curious. That’s all. Danny7 and Vlad were both human and then they became half ghost. I know it doesn’t work the other way around but, it feels different when you never know what it’s like to be human first,” Dani said.

Another silence.

“Yes, long ago halfas like yourself used to be common around the ghost zone. But they were unlike you in a few respects.”

“Like?”

“They were born of a human mother and ghostly father,” Clockwork replied. 

“What happened to them?”

“They died and became full ghost, or were killed off and prevented from become a full ghost.”

Dani could only nod at this information, letting it process through her brain.

“I thought all halfas became ghost when they died?” she asked.

“Usually, but some who die in peace can skip over that step,” said Clockwork.

“Did they all die peacefully? The ones who never became full ghost?”

“No.” Dani swore she hear all the clocks stop ticking, but that had to be her imaginations, for the moment she let go of her breathe the ticking came back in. “It is possible to kill a halfa without them become a full fledge ghost. It is a cruel, slow and painful death that requires a person to force a halfa to expend all their energy while human. It is not a process I am comfortable repeating.”

“Is that why they aren’t around anymore?”

“No.”

“Well then why?” This was getting frustrating.

“They are forbidden. The last naturally born halfa was too much for both the ghost zone and the human world. So, the ghost zone sealed off all contact with its human counterpart and prevented any ghost from falling in love with a human.” This information made Dani only more curious.

“Who was he?”

“You ask a lot of questions.”

“No! You can’t just say stuff like, _‘The last natural blah blah blah’_ and then not tell me the rest. I need to know now,” Dani pleaded.

“You _need_ to know?”

“Yes! I _need_ to know!”

“Fine, but you will have to join me for dinner. I can’t spend too much time away from the rivers of time, or else it will lead itself down a very curious path.”

Dani followed Clockwork down a series of makeshift halls. Its wall and flooring not meeting correctly, leaving gaps along its seams, replacing the light from above with peaks and spots of neon green. Potted plants long dead and rotted stool tall around them, greeting them every few feet. A grim reminder of once was, or what could have been.

A room full of vines and fire floated below them. The twisted path of walls leading them down into its depths. The room had four fire places, one on each wall, placed directly in its center. A long glass table stood in the middle; Dani could see their reflection in it as they floated down. The vines from the ceiling crawled down towards the fireplace, decorating them in an interlacing web. The blue flames from the fireplace cast deep shadows through. Tea and soup, each its own ghastly color of black greeted them as they took their seats.

“It’s only squid ink,” Clockwork waved away her concern.

She tried a small nibble allowing the cold bitter mixture stained her tongue.

“Pff- I can’t believe you fell for it!” Clockwork had the face of a child now, laughing at her gagging. “This is a soup made for ghost, made from fermented flowers and boiled ectoplasm. No human nor halfa can eat this.”

“Then why did you give it to me!” Dani shoved the soup away, as if it could come alive and choke her with it’s sent.

“To see your reaction. It’s not everyday I get a dinner guest,” he said. Snapping his fingers, a small servant, whose head was covered in an egregious amount of eyeballs came and gave her a hot plate of broccoli cheddar soup. A few quick taste tests proved that it was indeed real and not another prank. Slurping up the last of his meal Clockwork spoke “As we wait for the main meal let’s continue our conversation from above. You were asking another question correct?” Dani was still eating her soup. The creamy cheese broth was filling her up faster than expected, and to not seem rude she had been shoving soup into her month as fast as she could.

“MmmmM? Mmmmmm MM! mmmmmmmMmmMMM?!”

“It can wait till-” Danny covered her mouth and forced everything down in one big gulp.

“Who was it? Who caused the end of natural born halfas? Why was the ghost zone afraid of him? What did he do? You gotta tell me!” her words came flying out of her mouth, at a mile a minute. Taking in this gibberish Clockwork closed his eyes and simply said

“Pariah Dark if you would believe it.” And Dani could, “There is a reason so many older ghost fear halfas, and go out of their way to control them, or kill them is that. Unlike ghost, halfas can grow their powers and evolve new powers. A ghost that breathe fire can only make the fire inside them stronger. While a halfa can learn to breath fire in one breathe and ice in another. Dan is a perfect example, both he and Danny have the ecto-scream ability, but Dan never developed ice powers like Danny did.”

“And that’s because Dan died before he could get those powers?” Dani asked.

“Exactly. Pariah Dark was one of the oldest halfa for his time. Living till his late sixties, using his powers to conquer lands, protect his people, and destroying any ghost from entering his domain,” Clockwork shot Dani a dry smirk. “Truly a hero king.”

“Wait… _he was a good guy?_ ” Dani gasped.

“Human Pariah was very different from the one you know now. He was still a strong stubborn mule with his own head stuck up his- _but_ back then, he knew when it was time to back down and when it was time to fight.” Dani nodded along.

“He sounds like he was a different person entirely.”

“Almost. Looking back, you can see all the warning signs, the stress, the responsibility, and the scars gained from every thankless battle. Everything was there, but maybe nobody at the time cared to noticed,” Clockwork looked up from his tea. “But it is too late now.” 

A new meal was brought in, this time it was a pasta coated in squid ink. Dani had it once before, with Vlad, the bitter memory mixing with the ink. She poked at it a few times, wondering if this too was more ghost food. The Master of time shook his head.

“Do ghost even need to eat?” She wondered.

“No but I like the taste. An old friend of mine would always say that a person taste in food matched their personalities,” Clockwork said. Dani didn’t know how true that was but took small bites of the pasta.

“So, what did Pariah Dark do that caused the end of all halfas?” she asked.

“He become the ghost king. He killed the last one and took over. He assured himself that he could control the ghost and form the ghost world into one of strict rules and customs. He sought to make his new home more human,” Clockwork took a bite of the pasta, savoring it in his mouth. “In his quest for power he lost the very thing he cherished, his humanity. Without it, he became a different person. Someone that refused to be controlled, or contained. He lashed out at anyone that would take his power away from him, until he was locked away for his crimes. A sad fate of course. Trapped in a tiny box, force to slumber as your work crumbles around you,” He took another bite of pasta. “The Observants and the Ancient Ghost did not want another Pariah to rise again. And in their efforts to combat their fears killed any such child they found until they sealed the ghost zone away from the human world, preventing the act in the first place.”

Dani, engaged by the story hadn’t touched her pasta beyond the few investigatory bites. “What about Vlad, and Danny, and me?”

Clockwork shrugged. “Most of the Ancient Ghost that locked up Pariah are gone. Moved on, destroyed, or gone mad with power themselves. The Observants are not ones to act on their own, so when Vlad became an artificial halfa they deiced to watch him instead. Then Danny came along and they sent their watch dog to control him.”

“What about me?”

“You?”

“Yes me! What about me? It’s always Danny this or Vlad that? Do they not care about me? Why doesn’t anyone care about me?”

“It is better if the Observants don’t care about you. They’re attention can lead to disastrous outcomes.”

While it might be true, it didn’t stop the disappointment.

“The Observants are also fools, who cannot see their town feet, nor can they see a great power even when it comes walking in their front door. It is a mistake they make over and over again.”

“What do you mean?” Dani asked.

“The Observants brushed off Danny until he was twisted to Dan, they have brush off my brother until he became an unstable ghost tyrant, and they will brush you off until you become an issue, but we both know you are too smart to cause that much trouble. A natural born halfa who has her whole life to decide who to become. I wonder what she will pick?” The master of time gave her warm smile. “You will do many great things Danielle, so do not let the options of a few push you down. I can already see that you will far excess the achievements of both Danny and Vlad.”

“In a good way por bad way?”

“A positive way that only a natural born halfa like you can my dear.” Clockwork young child like face seemed to glow with a genuine smile, like non she had seen on him before.

“Did they do the same to you to?”

“Once, put if you don’t take it into account, time can sneak up on even the greatest of beings.”


End file.
